The Hunting

Chapter 9

I woke up to someone shaking me. I groaned and tried to push their hands off of me. I mumbled, "Not now, five more minutes."

I heard a groggy Nate right above me, "Well if you wanted me to kiss you awake you could've just said so." Slap. "Ouch!"

I opened my eyes to see Nate hovering over me and a Javier looking back with some amusement in his eyes. I groaned sitting up and rubbing the crust out of my eyes, "So it's my turn now?"

Nate nodded, "Yeah, I stayed up most of the night. You have about 4 hours until sunrise."

I glared at Nate, "You didn't have to do that you know."

Nate shook his head, "Oh, I know, but you looked so cute sleeping I couldn't help but to-Slap- "Jesus, you're in a slapping mood, today aren't you?'

I stood up dusting off the imaginary dirt off of my pants, "Yeah, yeah, just go to sleep and shut your trap."

I walked to one of the stumps around the fire, it happened to be the one right across from Javier. I watched as Nate curled up on Don's sleeping bag and started snoring softly. He must really be tired if he could just crash in front of a bunch of strangers. Javier and I sat in silence for a while until I spoke, "So how long have you been on guard?"

Javier looked at me, raising his eyebrows questioningly. I groaned, "Please just humor me, we have  three hours until sunrise so might as well not stay in awkward silence the whole time."

Javier smirked then spoke up, "I was about 30 minutes in my shift when Nate started drooling."

I snorted trying to not bust out laughing. The last thing that I want is to wake everyone else up. Knowing Nate, he probably won't wake up for a good while.

The rest of the night was filled with very small talk, like what time are we heading out, which direction are we heading, and what are we going to do for food in the morning. I got very simplistic and rather irritating answers: whenever we want to, we are heading towards the canyons, and probably nothing. Great, just great.

Talking with Javier is hard. He isn't the one for words, but I can tell that there is something more to him because whenever I or someone else says anything else relatively funny, his eyes gleam with something mischievous. It was about an hour until sunrise and everyone was still sawing logs. I finally said a question that has been in the back of my mind ever since I met this group, "How did you end up being a hunter?"

Javier looked at me in surprise, as if he didn't expect that question. I can tell that he is apprehensive about answering because his feet were shifting and he started to play with his hands. He spoke narrowing his eyes at me, "Why do you want to know?"

The way he looked at me made me uncomfortable, "I'm just curious like is it an exclusive club that only some can get into? Or is it just whoever wants to can do it? I've been thinking about it for a while, I know that there is safety in numbers, but how did all of you meet?"

Javier sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Well, everyone will have to tell you their own stories on how they became a hunter, but mines really simple. I was born into it. My parents died so I was left alone with Remmington. I guess everyone just found each other along the way. Now it's my turn, what is the relationship between Nate and you?"

I bit my lip, I still don't trust this group, not with Pietra being a maniac. I spoke hesitantly, "We have known each other forever. I guess you could say we are childhood friends. Nate is just a pervert and likes anyone with boobs."

Javier let out a light chuckle, "I can see that. So, what exactly are you guys? I don't think you are scavengers because you don't have bloodlust in your eyes. Also, you wouldn't have told Don about the berries if you didn't care. All of the grazers and browsers I have met wouldn't dare leave their group unless they went off the deep end. Both of you have light in your eyes, so you can't possibly be a hunter. No matter what I refuse to believe that you're a burrower because they are believed to be extinct."

"Why does having a light in our eyes matter? Don is a really upbeat guy."

"Hunters are really lonesome, but I have met many in my time and you guys are far from it. Considering that your weapons and armor are nicely done, you possibly can't be a hunter."

"We could always be non-denominational."

This is the first time I have ever heard Javier laugh. His laugh sounded like soft twinkling bells, I thought it was rather cute. He spoke, trying to take breaths, "Yeah right, nobody would be that stupid. Nate maybe, but you, I don't think so. You are extremely knowledgeable about your environment. Also, considering how steady you held your bow, you know your stuff."

Non-denominational is extremely rare. This group shuns any type of animal behavior and tries to live as we did in the past. They usually inhabit old run-down cities. They are so rare and weak; scavengers and diseases usually pick them off quickly. 

I muttered so that Javier could barely hear me, "You won't believe me no matter what I say, so why should I even tell you?"

Javier rested his chin on his hands, "Probably why you asked me how I became a hunter, just pure curiosity."

There was an awkward silence for in between us until I heard some shifting of a body. Both Javier and I looked at Calum as he stretched awake. He rubbed his eyes and looked at us. "Morning."

Javier nodded a greeting as I muttered a weak good morning. As Calum got up and walked over to sit down next to Javier, Javier looked at me with an unreadable expression. I am so that thankful that Calum woke up; I have no clue what I would've told Javier.

The rest of the morning, we sat in awkward silence until Pietra woke up. She woke up with a huge yawn as she scratched her head. She looked over my way and instantly her tired eyes were filled with hatred. "Great," I said quietly, "the beast woke up."

Javier the only one to hear me chuckled lightly. Pietra continued to glare at me as she sat next to Calum. She sneered, "Oh you're still here?"

I grit my teeth. Boy, what I would do to wipe that attitude off of her face. I glared right back at Pietra. Before my mouth could get the best of me, the snoring Don sat up and scratched his head. I snorted because just a few minutes ago his demon of a sister woke up in the same fashion. He acknowledged the group with a nod as he stood up and trotted off into the woods. When Don got back, Calum stood up. He spoke gesturing towards Nate, "Arden would you mind waking him up?"

I replied walking towards the sleeping Nate. I nudged him lightly with my foot, "Nate wake up."

Nate just grumbled rolling over and grabbing my leg. "Not now mom." He muttered, drool slightly coming out of his mouth.

It took all I had not to laugh, I turned back and it seems that the rest are in the same position I am. I was unsure how to wake him up, but then an idea struck me. I smirked as I grabbed my canteen of water slowly unscrewing the lid. I quickly spilled a little of my water directly on Nate's face. He jerked awake. Still having ahold of my leg, he almost made fall flat on my face. Luckily, I was able to wretch my leg out of his grip. Nate looked up at me smirking while he had a grimace on his face. He looked up and saw it was me and then the grimace immediately turned into that infamous smirk. He opened his mouth, "Arden, you should know by now that you don't need water to make me wet."

I just looked down at him with a blank expression. Without saying a word, I proceeded to dump the rest of my water on him. There is a small stream not far from here, I could swing by there and grab some more water. I don't regret pouring the water on Nate because watching him stand up and shriek like a girl will be in my mind forever. With this little scene that I just caused, everyone was laughing, even Javier. To put the cherry on top, I dropped my canteen onto Nate before saying in the most sarcastic, seductive voice possible, "How wet are you now Nate?"

Nate looked at me with a mixture of sarcasm and disbelief, "Dripping. Thanks."

I laughed dryly as Nate wrung of the water of his shirt. I walked to Don's bedroll and rolled it up wringing out any of the water that got on it. It took us about twenty minutes to finish picking up camp. We stopped by the stream to fill up on water as we munched on some of the berries that we collected yesterday. As we continued on our trek, I continued to get more and more anxious about what is to come.